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[Spokesman Barry] Baum said last week that there are 2,000 $15 tickets offered before every home game, but those tickets may not always be available to the general public. Some have already been sold to season ticket holders, while others are offered to community groups. The number of cheap seats, he said, changes game to game.

And that number, evidence suggests, is less than a quarter of the total.

The Nets are playing it coy. There are 2,000 tickets "offered before every home game" only if "before" means "some time before," counting season tickets. Note that 50 upper bowl tickets a game are given a way through a community sweepstakes.

Misleading rhetoric

Thus, rhetoric from Nets officials and supporters like Borough President Marty Markowitz has been misleading, suggesting that "2,000 tickets will be $15 per game," as if they would be available for the casual purchaser.

"It must be enjoyed by Brooklyn's working families," Markowitz said at a 2004 City Council hearing, a statement that presumably wasn't aimed at those making a season-long commitment.

Instead, a "limited" number, to quote the Nets, has become available. As I reported, for the Nets home opener, a Ticketmaster graphic suggested there were 301 seats available. For the game Dec. 18 against the Utah Jazz, a Ticketmaster graphic (below) cited 480 seats.